Tag: Bears Ears

Moon House Ruins, Bears Ears National Monument

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This well-preserved cliff dwelling, located on Cedar Mesa within Bears Ears National Monument, was built by the Ancestral Puebloans sometime between 1150 and 1300 AD.  The pictographs and painted walls are what draw visitors to this beautiful site.  I was able to photograph the interior of Moon House, but the lighting was too poor to capture the pictographs.  I highly recommend hiking this area and exploring the archaeological sites.  As ever, be respectful of the site: do not touch the rock art, do not sit on or lean against the cliff dwelling walls, do not take any artifacts, etc.  This fragile site is just another example of why this area deserves the preservation and protection that can be provided under a national monument.

General Information/How to Get a Permit:

https://www.blm.gov/visit/kane-gulch-ranger-station

Rock Art Adventures: The Procession Panel in Bears Ears National Monument

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The archaeology of Comb Ridge, a vast swath of land in Utah (it is currently part of Bears Ears National Monument), is absolutely amazing, with hundreds of rock art panels, dispersed habitation sites, granaries, and so on.  However, hiking Comb Ridge in June is a terrible idea and a bunch of friends and I decided to venture out regardless.  It was boiling hot, exposed, sandy–ugh.  At least there’s rock art.  A ridiculous amount of rock art.  Viewing the Procession Panel definitely made up for any discomfort!  It is thought that the 179 petroglyph figures may depict some kind of ceremonial gathering or migration story.  But, as with most rock art, the interpretation is a bit up in the air.  I had some trouble finding information about this specific panel; one website notes that it may date to the Late Basket Maker period (ca 450-750 AD), but it doesn’t provide any evidence to support that particular date.

*Please note: rock art is incredibly fragile.  Do not touch rock art, spray-paint it, or vandalize it in any way.  Not only is it ethically wrong, it is illegal (see blog post on ARPA).

Women in Archaeology: State of the Monuments

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Click Here to listen to the episode on the Archaeology Podcast Network! You can also download the episode from iTunes.

-1The Bears Ears and Escalante National Monuments were recently reduced in size by the present administration. Chelsi, Emily, Kirsten, and Jessica discuss the action and its impacts on local populations and archaeology.

Check out the Women in Archaeology Podcast website: https://womeninarchaeology.wordpress.com/

National Monuments Under Threat

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Zinke_Monuments

Trying for some levity during this sh**-storm. I sincerely hoped Trump wouldn’t go through with it. I actually drew this cartoon a few days ago. No matter what, I stand with Bears Ears and all of the other National Monuments under threat.

For information on Trump’s move to shrink National Monuments, see:

Trump Shrinks Utah Monuments in Historic Move:  http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/04/politics/utah-monuments-trump-weir/index.html

Trump Orders Largest National Monument Reduction In U.S. History: https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/12/04/567803476/trump-dramatically-shrinks-2-utah-national-monuments